Are you too getting ridiculous price tips?

[Stephanie27]

I am finding that the price tips given by Airbnb are just crazy low, they wouldn;t cover the cleaning and laundry...anyone else feel the same

[Ralf5]

Hello @Julia-And-Hugo0

your case seems to be a chain of unfortunate circumstances, but as @Keith1 mentioned, it's not the guest's fault.

I would take it as "experience" even if 2 weeks of the school holidays are included. May be you can mention towards the guest, that he got an exceptional low price due to system error... and if you feel through the conversation forth and back that he understands, then eventually you could send him a modification request, which is a bit higher to compensate at least a little bit the higher prices in the scholl holidays. Please note that the guest has to accept this modification to be valid and also this might cause a bad review at the end. If you cancel the booking you will get punished from airbnb unless you agree with the support that there will no punishment in your particular case.

After thinking carefully about this I would not change or cancel the booking, but probably would mention that the usual price would be XXX Dollars and would let the guest know that you have decided to keep the booking as it is.

To avoid future cases like I would turn off the instant booking so you always see the guests reviews, number of persons, total price etc before you accept a booking request. Neither I would use the Smart Pricing tool, you know the value of your place and you know about the high seasons, low seasons, local events, etc., so set your pricing for the individual dates in your calendar ( I do this for about one year in advance) and then there is no need for the automatic smart pricing. I use the mininum stay definition for specific periods to avoid to many short term stays, further I give a small discount about 5% (airbnb proposes about 30% for my listing, I did't follow) for more than one week duration booking.

Good luck with your future bookings!

[Michelle106]

I'm curious to hear what has happened with this. If you cancel the booking, it's my understanding that you will have all those dates blocked out on your calendar.

[Emmanuelle18]

I do agree with you and even they say that it' s only for a start, I don't follow their advice and look around to fix py price... Otherwise, garden, lauydery, cleaning , are just paid by the tip...  and nothing else!

[JuanAntonio1]

El problema de airbnb cuando pone un precio de referencia es que no se preocupa de eventos importantes que pasan en la cuidad

Por ejemplo los 15 PRIMEROS DIAS DE AGOSTO EN BARCELONA (2 - 14 agosto) hay un evento llamado THE CIRCUIT

(en ibiza del 18 al 21 de agosto) y los precios de alojamientos, hoteles ... son multiplicados por 2 o por 3 segun la AREA

30.000 international visitors

GRACIAS A AIRBNB DE CORRIGIR LOS PRECIOS DE REFERENCIA EN AGOSTO PARA BARCELONA

saludos

[Alyce-Jean--Sam-0]

I find I'm angry when I look at this area. It is an insult, and airbnb doesn't pay any attention to high season in our areas. I'd love it to come off.

[Oliver1]

i totaly agree as well.  What Airbnb doesnt justify is that my 2br and 1 ba is very unique to the area.  I believe it should be more than a standard place who does pirate hoteling and the like.  I create my own pricing and my place is still booked for most of the summer.

[Mary-Ann0]

We are talking about a computer program turned on somewhere working with no-one there.

Don't pay any attention to it.

[Robin4]

@Stephanie27 @Janene0 @Mary-Ann0 @Oliver1 Yeah Guys, this ridiculous suggestion of going with 'pricing tips' from some entity who has absolutely no idea of our area and what we have to offer is to be ignored....don't get cut up by it!

I spend an enormous amount of time making sure that my guests experience is as good as I can possibly make it. I provide beers, ciders in their fridge on a no charge basis, chocolates on the pillows, electric blankets and air conditioning or heating panel turned on in the winter. I provide constant Hepa filtered air filtration to help allergy sufferers, no pets are every allowed in the cottage! Every night I supply a cheese plate and an invitation to join us for a wine or two.

I am not the local caravan park or that shoddy motel with its dirty sheets, dirty glassware and crockery and cigarette smoking receptionist. I don't have a bed that came from a secondhand store with the cheapest linen that K Mart has to offer!

I make my guests feel that they are so glad they decided to come our way....and there is not a person on earth that I will discount my rate for....I host to a standard, not a price, hence my reviews....and Stephanie, make sure you do the same..

[Jessie-And-Thomas0]

We just sent them an email asking about this because seriously its ridiculous!  We have two listings in the same Triplex in the Hollywood Hills, one is really quite small with only 6'6 ceilings and price tipping at $120 - $145 a night while the other much bigger and luxurious one with more reviews and a higher star rating is price tipping for a mere $40 - $60 per night. How does this even work? Same location, same building, one is bigger and nicer yet price tipping for less than the smaller one... 

We've been Airbnb hosts for the past 3 years and its how we make a living and the past couple months enquires and requests have been unusually quiet when we are usually booked up we aren't even showing up in the map search...  we're concerned that these price tips could be affecting where we show up on the search results, does anyone know if this could this be the case?

Cheers,
Jessie & Thomas

[Nia0]

My "Whole House" condo is in a ski resort with amazing summer activites.  It has 3 bedrooms 2 baths 1,200 square feet with newly remodled with raw log accents in the center of the community.  Really, $94 a night?  How is this calculated?  Are they comparing it to the competition?  The "Tip" is lower than 1 bedroom 1 bath units that have 5 beds in one room.  I want my Tips to be based on other 3 bedroom 2 bath homes.  Please give us more information on how the computer is programmed to calculate the Tips.  Let me have control over the types of units that are being used as comps, if any.  Or is this just wild ass guessing?  I am losing faith more and more with Airbnb.  Is it incompetance or a strategy?

[Luigi27]

The rates suggests are absolutly astonishing low! Crazy way to lose money (not able to recover costs!) I will never follow those unfair suggestions from Airbnb, unfortunatly in Asia many are lowering the price to the minimum destroyng the market.

[Olga6]

rices in London dropped this year considerably. Some suggest that this is becouse the competition is stronger, many more letting their places via Airbnb.

I agree that this is destroying the market as we are on the verge of letting the place long term as there is a great shortage of rental flats in London and at the moment with costs and low and high season we are not braking even but fall below what would be long term income. Possibly, this will all sort itself out as many will pull the properties off and the number of flats available will fall so the prices will become more realistic again. At the moment, it makes sense just for part time hosts that let their own homes or sublet their own homes as Airbnb income covers some of the costs of living. Hosts that own flats for rental purposes might be loosing money now.

There should be forums like in the past deducated to various subjects and also areas (London had couple of groups) where hosts can discuss policies including guideline prices.

[Andrew90]

Price tips are defiantly beta and tend to be on low side.

The pricing does come down to supply and demand. I think another factor is overall reduction is tourism with unsettled politely situations and increased terror. We are still going to UK later this summer but most of my family and friends would not travel right now.

Also armless in USA booking.com and HomeAway are advertising heavy sucked my away some market share from Airbnb.

[Olga6]

Prices dropped at the beginig of theis year, if not summer last year.

[Niku0]

Message from Airbnb: "You still have nights available within the next 30 days, and based on what travelers are searching for, demand for listings like yours in your area is low right now."

This is an outright lie, the big OTAs sells well for reasonable prices here.

The message says more about Airbnbs business methods, than about what travelers are searching for.